Oh well - never mind. Catch you some other time, perhaps?

Will you get the chance to visit your rellies whilst in the Motherland?

Yeah. Although I doubt my dad will wanna come with me to see Jay Z (even given his new status as DJ on the local black music radio station).

I know he's not Ladytron, but you may be surprised by Jay Z. He's one of the few hiphoppers who understands the importance of live performance.

I've seen him before, and last time he sucked dogshit through an old tramp's sock.

I hear he's improved though, so we'll see...

Saw them (again) last night, at The Astoria.

They were pretty damn good. Much better than the first time they (abortively) played the gig, a few weeks back.

I should have loved them, but I find it hard to get enthused about a band that is so static on stage. They just look really awkward - like it's their first ever gig. Of course, some bands make studied standing still a feature - even an art form - but Ladytron just look ill-at-ease, somehow. I prefer artists/bands to at least have a bit of stage presence whether it is, say, Kraftwerk's aforementioned studied immobility or one of the countless bands who run all over the stage. It just assists the atmosphere a little, I feel.

I had a quick chat with Gary Levermore - ex-boss/owner of Third Mind records (now working for Nettwerk) while I was there. That's all - just idle fanboy gossip!

Helen and Mira are consistently the best-coiffed, best-dressed women in pop, they looked great in their black dresses (hehe). That slightly awkward stance suits them well, they're both not very effusive and a little bit of reserve goes with their sound.

It's kind of funny how they always stick the guys in the back, and the guest bassist in the back and in the corner.

A rather good photo, which captures the lightshow (and matching eyes) quite well. Unfortunately, they didn't get much more animated than this, though.

Just came from their Dublin show. Pretty good although the soundmen deserved a thrashing - vocals too quiet, bass too loud, etc. It wasn't so bad that it ruined things entirely, thankfully, so we still got classics like Destroy Everything You Touch, Seventeen, Ghosts and Runaway. Poor old Mira's been through the wars though - entered and exited on crutches.

That's interesting. The vocals were too quiet and the bass too loud at the Brighton show as well. I assumed it was just a local difficulty, but maybe not.

Helen and Mira moved around a lot more than Clive reports, at the Brighton gig. Perhaps Mira came a cropper doing her jaunty skipping dance? The vocals were far too low to start with, but I thought they sorted it out after a couple of tracks. I thought the drums sounded a bit shoddy though.

SR, can I ask, did you manage to go to Ladytron and Nick Cave on the same night? Good skills if so, but it was an annoying clash to start with.

There just seems to be a problem with the high-end at their gigs. Last night I was struggling to hear the lead synth lines above the buzzing of the bass guitar and bass synth. It sounded like when you go into the toilets of a club or as if everything was being played through a sub-woofer (sp?). No problems with their showmanship for me, I have to be honest. The icy cool, detached demeanor is so suited to the music that it works.

Nico Rijnders wrote:

QUOTE:
Helen and Mira moved around a lot more than Clive reports, at the Brighton gig. Perhaps Mira came a cropper doing her jaunty skipping dance? The vocals were far too low to start with, but I thought they sorted it out after a couple of tracks. I thought the drums sounded a bit shoddy though.

SR, can I ask, did you manage to go to Ladytron and Nick Cave on the same night? Good skills if so, but it was an annoying clash to start with.

Yeah, I did 50 mins of Nick Cave, then a taxi dash to Ladytron (only missed 3 songs, as it turned out). Very annoying clash indeed, but it made for a great night out the way I did it.

At the Nick Cave gig, I was a few seats along from Chris Eubank...

Did he ask for your autograph?

Miaow.

I just gave Velocifero a good start to finish listen as part of my preparation for a best of 2008 radio show next week, and WOW, Versus, a track hiding at the end of the CD, is such a terrific song, the kind you have to replay 3 times right after the first listen. It's one of the few tracks that is not saturated with heavy drony distortion, great interplay with Reuben's voice (?) and Helen's, very nicely arranged with the main motif set by a vintage combo organ (holy crap, a Farfisa!!!!)

"Kletva" is another good one that I had totally missed on the first listen. It's apparently a cover of a Bulgarian song, very nice tune that gets a heavy Strawberry Switchblade treatment, nicely sung.

All in all a pretty decent album, though clearly not their best. M